Kutsios is named after a Lithuanian dish called kutsia.
Kutsios marks the time when nature is getting ready to rest.
It is the darkest time of the year when the world returns to itself.
This was the time when the bulls started to wait for the sun to return.
Lithuanians celebrated the 24th and 25th of December with various different customs and festivities.
Adults began their celebration towards Kutsios by placing a cherry twig into the water during the day when the bears went to hibernation.
This was the first day of winter.
Children played games which symbolized farming,
Such as planting the crops,
And girls imitated sowing and strewing hemp seeds,
Which promised dreams of future husbands.
Kutsios continued the Veline separations,
Combining the living and the dead,
And the people and animals.
A house was specially prepared for Kutsios.
A special grove was prepared to represent the connection to nature.
A sun was made of straws.
Birds made of woods and eggshells were placed onto the display.
The making of the grove and burning candles was believed to invoke the souls of the dead.
These spirits sat around a table where Kutsio was served,
Together with bread and salt.
Kutsio contains traditional Lithuanian grains,
And it symbolizes regeneration.
These grains were rye,
Poppy,
Beans,
Barley and wheat,
All mixed together.
The living sat on another table that was covered with hay,
And a tablecloth.
In earlier days,
The floor was also covered with hay.
There were items and food on the table,
Which represented the life forces.
There was a bundle of clean rye,
Which the family used the next day to bind around apple trees.
Kutsio's festivities began when the evening star appeared in the sky.
Before the dinner,
The family bathed in the sauna,
Made mends with their enemies,
And forgave old grudges.
In the olden days,
The master of the house wore particular clothes during Kutsios.
These were high black boots,
A sash called juosta,
And a black hat.
The master used to circle around the farmstead three times.
He would come in when everyone else had entered,
And he would say,
Dearest God,
Die Wulis!
With the Kutsio begins admittance.
When the family gathered,
The oldest member of the party said an invocation and broke the bread,
And everyone gave a piece to one another.
Sixteenth-century historian Praetorius wrote that every member of the family placed a piece of bread onto the floor and prayed Semme Baatis,
The guard of the homestead,
With the following words.
Thank you for the good bread you give us.
Help us work the fields while blessing you,
That Siminele would continue to give us your good gifts.
Then everybody would raise their bread to the sky,
Saying,
Nourish us.
After the exchange of bread,
Each person took a sip of beer,
And a few drops were split to the floor for the Veles.
When the dinner began,
Kutsios included 13 different foods,
Which symbolized the 13 lunar months of the year.
After Lithuanians began to follow the solar calendar,
The number was reduced to 12.
The meal included kutsia and kiselius,
Cranberry jelly,
Mushroom dumplings,
Cabbage,
Hot beet soup,
Seafood and fish.
Dessert was made of apples,
Nuts,
Milk and poppy seed,
And cookies called slitsikai.
The animals were also part of the festivities,
Being served the same food that the people were eating.
When before people used to live under the same roof with many of their animals,
People fed the household animals and farm animals from the table.
On farms,
Families fed their animals with the leftovers from Kutsios.
Food was also served for the bees and given as sacrifices for the tree spirits in the garden.
After the dinner,
Each family member pulled hay underneath the tablecloth.
Long straws meant a long and prosperous life.
Participants also made well wishes for one another by pouring grains into the herd fire.
The family ritually burned a wreath made of birch.
The wreath symbolized the old year.
Wreath could be replaced with a stump or a log that was burned.
Kutsios was followed by Kaledos,
The sun festival.
Kaledos was celebrated as the rebirth of the sun,
Called solei,
Sole mutule,
Mother sun.
Kaleda is a female deity,
A sun goddess.
Some scholars believe that she is another incarnation of solei,
While others see them as two different deities.
Kaleda is described to be a beautiful maiden who wears a crown made of pearls.
Kaleda is often accompanied by auksiniai ratai,
Golden wheels or rays,
And silkupotakai,
Silken wisps,
In old Lithuanian folk songs.
Kaleda is often accompanied by liliu,
Which is some association with the Lithuanian deity of winter,
Lala,
Lada or lela.
And here is a chant for Kaleda.
Look,
Holy Kaleda returns,
The great Kaleda.
For it is the day of Kaleda,
Iron wheels,
Silk lashes,
The great Kaleda.
For it is the day of Kaleda.
People carried images of the sun throughout the towns and frozen fields.
Everybody was greeted and well-wished.
Mummers also made appearances during Kaleda.
Men dressed up with sheep furs and wore masks,
Representing bulls,
Steeds,
Bears,
Cranes and other animals.
These mummers who wandered during Kaledos were called kaledotoiai.
They sang songs to every person they met and every house they visited.
Kaledos was a pre-Christian festival.
It was celebration of life as well as death.
The circle of life.
When velines was mostly celebrated within the family,
Kutsios and kaledos were festivals where the entire community took part.
The traditional meal was made of pork.
Other meals were rosemary chewies and cakes.
A group of kaledotoiai,
Known as plukkininkai,
Visited from house to house.
This group was made of young and old men and women.
They tracked a log with them called plukkis around the town.
Plukkis was the symbol of the old year.
The group sang and danced,
Playing music and tricks.
In the end,
They gathered together with the town folk to burn the log.
In Latvia,
A similar tradition took place around kutsios and the Latvian name of the custom is plukavaras.
Thank you so much for joining me on this course and becoming familiar with Baltic folklore.
Namaste.
